Company news: Peters & Associates acquires smoral firms

PETERS & ASSOCIATES CPAS P.C., a Syracuse accounting firm, has acquired the Robert Smoral CPA firm, in Camillus. The merger is expected to bring Peters & Associates an extra 10 percent in revenue. Mark C. Peters, managing partner, said the acquisition is an opportunity to capitalize on the similarities between the practices, to expand his firm’s areas of expertise and to offer Smoral’s clients enhanced services.

HIGHFIELD ADDS WORKERS AFTER WINNING CONTRACT

HIGHFIELD CALL CENTERS, a Syracuse company specializing in call center business and outsourced services, won a major account with Superior Plus/Griffith Energy, a global company with U.S. headquarters in Rochester, to provide inbound call center services. Joseph Randall Bonacci, Highfield’s president and CEO, said the company has added five employees, bringing its staff to 70. He said he expects to add up to 40 more employees by the end of the year. The company has also opened a new facility at 5990 Drott Drive in East Syracuse, where the Superior Plus/Griffith Energy work will be performed. Superior Plus/Griffith Energy sells heating oil, diesel fuels, propane, gasoline and natural gas.

DEVELOPMENT GROUP HONORS CENTERSTATE CEO

CENTERSTATE CORPORATION FOR ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY received a Gold Excellence in Economic Development Award in the category of new media for its CenterState Connect, a mobile business directory for the 12 counties served by CenterState. CenterState received the award for communities with populations of 200,000 to 500,000 from the International Economic Development Council, an independent nonprofit membership and research organization devoted to economic development.

LAB ALLIANCE OPENS CAZENOVIA SERVICE CENTER

LABORATORY ALLIANCE OF CENTRAL NEW YORK LLC has opened a patient service center in the Atwell Mill Professional Building, 132½ Albany St., Cazenovia. The Madison County location is one of 11 patient service centers in Central New York that are open to the public for laboratory test draws ordered by health care providers. The company employees 440 people.

AIR INNOVATION INSTALLS SECOND TEST LABORATORY

AIR INNOVATIONS, which designs and builds specialty air conditioning, refrigeration and environmental control equipment, has added to its psychrometric testing facilities at its 40,000-square-foot world headquarters in North Syracuse. A 2,880-cubic-foot lab has been installed next to the existing 1,440-cubic-foot lab. The two-chamber facility will be used to test the safety, reliability and performance of products under both indoor and outdoor conditions, mimicking the load conditions under which the company’s products will operate. The facility meets all major national and international standards for safety and performance.

MARY KAY AWARDS CADILLAC TO METZGER

DEBORAH METZGER, of Vernon, has earned the use of the Mary Kay pink Cadillac, an iconic symbol of success and the most coveted incentive awarded by Mary Kay Inc. Metzger began her Mary Kay business as an independent beauty consultant in November 1979 and became an independent sales director in September 1981.

CHITTENANGO FIRE CO. AWARDED $500 GRANT

CHITTENANGO VOLUNTEER FIRE CO. has been awarded a $500 EMSupport Grant from the Rural/Metro Charitable Fund. The money was used to help pay for new automated external defibrillators. The Chittenango Volunteer Fire Department serves a 25 square-mile area in the town of Sullivan, as well as a contract district within the town of Fenner, answering more than 200 alarms each year. The organization is a 100 percent volunteer force. Rural/Metro has provided ambulance service to the area since 1989 through the town of Sullivan.

HOSPITAL USING GRANT TO EQUIP DEPARTMENT

ST. JOSEPH’S HOSPITAL HEALTH CENTER was awarded a $10,100 grant from Fidelis Care New York. The funding will be used to purchase patient care equipment to enhance services for patients cared for in the “Fast Track” area of the hospital’s new Emergency Department. The ED Fast Track is intended to care for patients whose needs are urgent but not emergent. Operating much like an urgent care center, the 12-bed unit offers services to patients requiring care for a wide assortment of minor conditions. The Fidelis Care funding will allow St. Joseph’s to purchase a patient stretcher chair for use when examining patients with eye and nasal complaints, as well as two exam tables, reusable blood pressure cuffs and three hand-held oximeters, which will be used for obtaining accurate readings of oxygen saturation levels and pulse rate measurements.